NORTHERN ZOOLOGY. 



[2.] 1. Cathartes Aura. (Illiger.) Turkey-Vulture. 



Genus. Cathartes. Illiger. 



Turkey-Vulture, or Turkey-Buzzard. ( Vultur aura.) Wilson, ix., p. 96, pi. 75, f. 1. 



Cathartes Aura. Illiger. Prod., p 230. Bonap. Syn., p. 22. 



Wannah-koeoo (Bald-head). Chee Indians. 



Wilson informs us, that in the northern and middle sections of the United 

 States, the Turkey-Vultures are partially migratory, the greater part retiring 1 south 

 on the approach of cold weather ; but that considerable numbers remain all winter 

 as far north as New Jersey. They breed, he says, in the month of May, among 

 the secluded swamps of that State ; the female laying- two or four egg's of a 

 soiled-white colour, splashed all over with chocolate mingled with blackish 

 touches, particularly towards the great end. The place selected for the nest is 

 generally the decayed stump of a tree ; the male watches while the female sits ; 

 and, if not disturbed, they will occupy the same breeding-place for several years. 

 The young are clothed with a whitish down, and have the habit, when handled, 

 of vomiting- the offensive contents of their stomachs upon their incautious dis- 

 turber. The Turkey-Vulture is said to be an occasional visitant of Nova Scotia, 

 and Lewis and Clark observed it on the banks of the Columbia *. In the interior 

 of the continent, however, its summer migrations reach a considerably higher 

 latitude than they do either on the Atlantic or Pacific coasts, owing, probably, 

 to the greater warmth of the summer in the inland districts more speedily pro- 

 ducing the necessary putrefaction in the animal substances on which it feeds. 

 Following the direction of the Prairie Lands lying on the eastern side of 

 the Rocky Mountains, it reaches the banks of the Saskatchewan, in the fifty- 

 third parallel of latitude, late in the month of June, after the arrival of most of 



* The following is an extract of a letter from Mr. David Douglas : — ■ 



" The Vultur Aura, or Common Turkey- Buzzard, is an exceedingly rare bird on the North-west coast of America. 

 The few that I saw were on the low plains of the Multnomah, in the autumn and winter of 1820. Apparently it dis- 

 pears at all other seasons ; and, consequently, can be regarded as merely a bird of passage in that country. Lewis 

 and Clark more than once mention this bird in their narrative ; but, great as their authority ought to be respecting 

 this common bird of the United States, I am induced to think that they mistook the Vultur Air at us for it. as the latter 

 is one of the most common birds west of the mountains On the low marshy islands of the Columbia, a solitary Vultur 

 Aura is sometimes seen shunning and shunned by all others of his kindred. The Black Vulture, though a smaller bird, 

 is bolder, masters the Turkey-Buzzard, and drives him away from the carrion. These two birds are assuredly distinct 

 species, not varieties, as some have supposed. In Upper Canada, near Sandwich and Lake St. Clair, in 1823, I saw vast 

 numbers of the V. Aura, and had every opportunity of watching their habits, to say nothing of the evident differences 

 in their size and colour, and their dissimilar modes of nesting." — D. D. 



